Paper-clip.



J. H. IRVIN.

PAPER CLIP.

APPLIOATION FILED DBO. 14, 1908.

1,019,256.; Patented Mans, 1912.

L 2 3 E j wumm TED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES H. IRYIN, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

PAPER-CLIP.

Specification of Letters Patent. Application filed December 14, 1908. Serial Nb. 467,385.

Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

To all whom may concern Be ;it 'known that I, JAMES H. IRVIN, of

Baltimore city, Maryland, have invented certhis specification, .and to the figures and letters' of reference marked thereon.

This invention relates to clips for temporarily securing sheets of paper together, one object of the invention being to provide an exceedingly simple and cheap device adapted to lie substantially flat, with noprojections liable to accidentally engage other clips or the papers.

Another object is to provide a device which will have a maximum gripping power to prevent accidental separation of the sheets, and afiord the greatest facility for the insertion of the edges of the paper'without liability of mutilating the same.

The invention consists in certain novel details of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts all as will be now fully described and pointed out particularly in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure 1 is a plan view of a resilient sheet metal blank of convenient form to be bent up into the clip of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a clip bent up from a blank such as is shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a similar view of the partly formed blank. Fig. 4 is an edge elevation of the clip. Fig. 5 is an edge elevation of the partly formed blank shown in perspective in Fig. 3. Fig. 6 is a detail" perspective view showing a modification. Fig. 7 is a view of still another modification. The clip of" the present inventlon is formed of resilient sheet metal, preferably rolled V brass or steel, which latter may be tempered to give the desired resiliency and pressure. In'the formation of the. clip a sequence of steps is preferably followed, which will result in the production of the gripping edges preliminary to the bending of the blank into its final form, although it. will be understood that the particular process employed forms no part of the resentinvention.

The blank ,Figll, which may becut from a strip" of suitable width, or from a sheet'of metal, is preferably first shaped betweendies so as to form two gripping edges B and C, at slightly different distances from the opposite ends, and the longer end' is curved outwardly, as at C, and its extremity C again brought in toward the plane of the edges. The shorter end B may beleft substantially straight, while the body of the blank immediately adjacent the i in edges is curved or offset at B A gi ing formed blank' of this construction may be completely formed into the clip of the present invention by doubling the body portion intermediate its ends, as at D, thereby bringing the two gripping edges into contact or cooperative relation to each other, as shown clearly in Figs. 2 and 4.

In the completely formed clip, as so far described, it will be observed that'the gripping edlgles extend transversely and are relatively s arp to concentrate the gripping effort along a single line of considerable length, whereby the paper will beheld firmly with a minimum liability of the sheets being separated by twisting action. It will also be noted that the bowed orcurved end of the longer arm'of the clip diverges from the shorter arm in proximity-to the gripping edges, thereby forming a converging entrance aperture into which the edges of the paper may be readily inserted and the clip forced down on the several sheets in the well understood manner, and at the same time present clip it will be noted that the extremes of both arms are caused to lie against or close to the surface of the paper, and hence piles of papers separated into sections by clips of the character described may be readily slip'ped one pile past or over the other without danger of dislodging any of the. clips or of catching and mutilating the edges of adjacent papers. In so far as this last mentioned feature is concerned, however, it is obvious that the gripping edges -may be formed in various ways, without changing materially the form of the ends of the arms and withoutafiecting their operation. Thus as; shown in Fi .i 6 one of the arms is provided with a su 'stantia'llyflat gripping surface E against any portion of which the sharp projection on the other arm may bear. In Fig. 7 the gripping edges are formed by simple substantially circular indentations in the outer faces of the arms with corresponding projections H on the inner or proximate faces so located as to cooperate and grip the paper between them,

From theitoreg'oing it is clear that the gripping edges maybe formed by indenting or grooving the plate in various ways, and the cli completed by doubling the metal so as to orm one long and one short arm, the extremities of which are brought into substantially the plane of the paper.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent, is:

A clip for superposed sheets of paper formed of a resilient strip of sheet metal same plane with the gripping projections at different distances from the gripplng projections whereby they will lie in close contact with opposite surfaces of the papers and a wide entrance opening in the side of the clip Will be provided.

JAMES H. IRVI'N.

Witnesses:

O. F. LAoKEY, J. A. POWERS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

